


opulence

by incarnandine



Series: DGM Rarepair week 2017 [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Fluff, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Nea and his piano, everything was good and nice once, past!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 06:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12551568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incarnandine/pseuds/incarnandine
Summary: He stepped out of the carriage, warm rays of afternoon sunlight enveloping him as he made his way up the stairs to the manor. It seemed that the Campbell family did not wait for their youngest son's return; the gardener he passed on his way bowed politely - yet with a fond smile reserved for those one has seen growing up since their first days - and informed young master Nea thatyes, the family is out visiting the lady Campbell's acquaintance in townandthey should be back shortly, nobody expected him to arrive today.





	opulence

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for the [D.gray-man rarepair week](https://dgrayrarepair.tumblr.com/) starting October 30th!
> 
> Prompts for day 1: Purple, Royalty, Creativity, Determination, Opulence, Wisdom, Maturity (i tried to use as many of them as I could in this ahah)
> 
> The idea for it came to me when a friend came over last month and we went to visit a 19th century palace of a factory owner; the interiors and the gardens were so amazing they were just itching to be put as a background of a fic (and as usually DGM has much darker/gothic backgrounds, this seemed like a nice change - and the place fitting it best would be naturally the Campbell family house)
> 
> (also: the level of actual gay in this is very much up to interpretation: if Nea/Mana floats your boat you're free to interpret it this way, but the implications of a romantic undertone in their relationship are almost nonexistent in the fic itself)
> 
> Enjoy and, as always, come say hi on [tumblr](http://incarnandine.tumblr.com)!

It always felt foreign to Nea, coming home after a long absence.  
  
The Campbell manor stood as firm and strong as ever, a safe harbour in a sea of pale wheat and scattered greenery of the garden - still, immobile, unchanging, and yet a sense of uncertainty crept over him as the carriage approached the main gate. It hasn't been years, not even months, and yet everything seemed so new to him, as if he were seeing his home for the first time. Sometimes it felt almost suffocating: almost as if people expected of him to feel the relief of homecoming instead of the neverending itch of adventure no matter where he went.  
  
Expectations, Nea smiled to himself; those were not for him, not truly. He was glad that he was not the one groomed to be the future master of the house - frankly, as much as the other was a homebody, Nea was a free spirit, let out every so often to discover the world around him, untamed and wild. Everything seemed an adventure, a foreign concept to be discovered, traversed and enjoyed; even coming home after a summer spent in London - dusty, cloudy London with smoke coming out of tall chimneys and rainwater filling every crook and ridge in the pavements - appeared to him so; to have a home never meant not to be able to rediscover it all over again.  
  
The carriage seemed to glide effortlessly along the main road leading to the mansion; the young Campbell's smile grew as he peered up to see light filtering through the still-green leaves. So peculiar, that the weather was so different in the countryside, colours so much more vivid than the dull grey of the capital.  
  
The gardens stood as pretty as ever, his mother's hand evident in the rich opulence of whatever foreign flowers she desired to have imported each and every year; Nea never cared to learn the names, as year after another they were replaced by something newer, more vibrant and colorful, never to be spoken of again. He wondered, at times, if his mother herself cared to remember their names.  
  
He stepped out of the carriage, warm rays of afternoon sunlight enveloping him as he made his way up the stairs to the manor. It seemed that the Campbell family did not wait for their youngest son's return; the gardener he passed on his way bowed politely - yet with a fond smile reserved for those one has seen growing up since their first days - and informed _young master Nea_ that _yes, the family is out visiting the lady Campbell's acquaintance in town_ and _they should be back shortly, nobody expected him to arrive today_.  
  
Nea grinned wider: nobody expected him? That's even better. It would surely save him the trouble of polite greetings with Mother and Uncle Cyrus. A golden flash in the corner of his eye also told him that apparently, not all of the family had left home this afternoon.  
  
The wooden stairs creaked under his steps; as well-kept as the house was, age still showed in little details. It seemed that nobody had laid out the carpets for winter yet; summer must have been a lot warmer here in the countryside, but oh-so-boring!  
  
"Tim," he called after the impatient golem whooshing happily up and down the stairs, until it finally calmed down enough to land in his outstretched palms. Nea laughed; he was so fond of Timcanpy and it seemed that the golem slowly warmed up to him, too. If not, it definitely missed him; were it a cat, it would probably start purring as soon as it landed in his palm with a happy chirp. "Have you been good?" he asked, smiling wide at the small golden ball. Timcanpy was one of the things he kept hidden from Mother for so long that he couldn't find it in himself to worry anymore whether she would finally find it - still, it had been his most trusted companion and Nea treated it much as he would a pet dog.  
  
The golem chirped again and flew up to nestle in the mess of his hair.  
  
"Okay, okay, got it. You have so much to show me, right?" he smiled as he passed door after door in the darkened corridor, feet almost moving on their own accord. "First I need to say hello and then you can show me everything you've recorded," he added, reaching up to pet the golem softly. "I hope you've been taking good care of him?" he added in a whisper as if he were sharing a secret with an old, old friend.  
  
The door at the end of the hall was slightly ajar, letting in a thin patch of sunlight in an otherwise dark space. Nea smiled wider: oh, wasn't that something completely new? He knew - he was sure - that things would never be as they were when he left; that after coming back home, there was a brand new adventure waiting to unfold in front of him and he itched to know it.  
  
The old nursery room, the same room he hasn't seen in _years_ , was now repainted a rich purple, complete with heavy curtains several shades darker and cream furniture with black cushions, the entirety of it creating a semblance almost that of a royal palace; everything seemed simple and yet elegant. One of the walls, Nea noticed, was remade into a grand _porte-fenetre_ leading out straight onto a balcony and further on, a smaller garden at the back of the manor; now it was fully open, letting both the sunlight and the warm afternoon breeze into the room. Complete with lamps adorning both sides of it, even if the furnishings seemed sparse, the room was absolutely stunning - and yet Nea's eyes glinted only when he took in the most important detail.  
  
And oh - he definitely loved saving this sight for last. Right in the center of the old nursery was a grand cream piano, it's colour matching perfectly the rest of the furniture, as if everything in the room was made to match it. Knowing Mother, it probably was, he thought; but the furniture, the room, the breeze and the sun mattered not as he walked closer, slowly, almost reverently to the beauty in the center of the room.  
  
Now everything, every _single damned thing_ made sense, thought Nea as he ran his fingers reverently over the lacquered wood of the piano. In the last letter to London, his mother asked him if he wouldn't want to stay just two more weeks. Even Mana was strangely patient: though he wrote every other day like he usually did, never once had he asked Nea to come home sooner, even for a small visit. Not that he minded: time in London was always well-spent and having something as beautiful as-- as this, to come home to, it was worth every day living in the smoke and rain.  
  
Timcampy on his head chirped happily, instantly bouncing down to the polished keys, happily flopping from one to another - it was far from a pleasant music but Nea still appreciated how deep and nice the piano could sound. The acoustics of the room were also surprisingly good; that explained why they chose the old nursery for this, out of all the unused rooms in the west wing of the manor.  
  
"I take it you've already found your gift," a soft voice chuckled behind him. "And here I thought you actually would play it instead of thumping on the keys like a half-deaf elephant."  
  
"Excuse you," Nea laughed, turning around to look at his twin. It surprised him how much Mana had changed over the summer; he lost some of the sickly pallor that seemed to cling to his skin since childhood, and he also somehow seemed... stronger. Still unfairly beautiful (why did he get to have both the brains /and/ the looks, Nea sighed internally), but now more of a real, solid beauty of a young man than a wilting, pallid corpse-boy.  
  
He definitely was stronger, too, Nea thought with a smile when Mana approached him in two long strides and enveloped him in a tight embrace, buried his nose in the crook of Nea's neck, sighed contentedly, melting against him a bit. The younger Campbell's smile softened; no matter how far he went, no matter how long he'd been absent from home, this was what he missed the most: without Mana, he felt incomplete and he never realized just how much - not until they were reunited again, and the weight of all those days spent in separation crashed on him with double strength.  
  
"I missed you too," he added in a gentler voice, his hand carding through Mana's long hair, fingers catching in the dark curls. "Next time, I will take you along with me," he promised, pulling Mana even closer. "London is amazing. So big, so full of people, of-- Mana, of _everything_ ," he laughed. "Theaters, circuses, libraries, operas and bars-- you will love it. All of it."  
  
"Next time," Mana repeated in a wistful tone, as if he still wasn't sure if there would be a next time at all: if his health would ever let him leave as far as London, or Paris, or Rome. Nonsense, Nea thought; he was stronger already - his strong, beautiful Mana who persevered through all of his and who deserved more than anyone to see the wide world just waiting for him. Yes, he made a silent promise to himself; there would be a next time and that next time, Mana would go with him - to London, to Europe, as far as blasted China, if only he wished it.  
  
"Now, though," Mana spoke again, pulling away only slightly to look Nea in the face, his fingers coming up to brushing strands of hair from the other's cheek, "you need to teach me how to play this. I've tried-- oh gods, Tim can show you how I tried-- but it never came out, well... _right_ ," he chuckled, embarassed. "I've seen notes in the library that can be played together, you know. That would be a good start," he added, eyes glinting playfully, all previous melancholy seemingly forgotten.  
  
"I will." Nea smiled back, leaning in to gently brush his lips over Mana's cheek. "I will," he repeated in a voice that sounded like a solemn promise, as he carded their fingers together.


End file.
